Ola Gjeilo, a 45-year-old Norwegian composer living in the United States, caught our attention with his setting of the text Ubi Caritas in the CD Lux by Voces8. He works in the register of “easy listening” derived from a classical culture, which often involves choirs. It is therefore in the vein of Eric Whitacre and Morten Lauridsen, but with an overlay of piano and orchestral layers of sound. The audience is that of these composers of “new choral music”, but also of Arvo Pärt (for the soaring side), of film music (Shore, Hisaishi, etc.) and listeners of what is wrongly called the “neoclassical”, who will find here a much more substantial material than a repetitive lukewarm water tap. After confirming his talent in the monograph Ola Gjeilo and, relatively, in Winter SongsGjeilo had greatly disappointed with the album Night. Here he is again at his most generous and inspired, notably in two cantatas: Dreamweaverand especially, The Road. For those who like the genre, this is the top !
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To watch on video